Murphy has 'worked out most of the glitches' of its post-tornado relocation

Murphy High students change classes one recent day between about 60 portables that have been installed at the Clark-Shaw campus in west Mobile.Press-Register/Rena Havner Philips

MOBILE, Alabama -- Three weeks since being relocated, students at the tornado-struck Murphy High said they’re adjusting to attending classes at a middle school across town, mostly in portables.

The students practiced a tornado drill Tuesday, during which they walked from the nearly 60 portable classrooms they are occupying behind Clark-Shaw magnet school in west Mobile into the gymnasium.

And churches, the Drug Education Council and other groups have donated ponchos to help the students move between classes on rainy days such as today.

“We’ve finally worked out most of the glitches, and the students seem to be happy,” Principal William Smith said one recent day, as he directed the mammoth operation of loading all 2,250 students onto 54 buses after school.

The students are not allowed to drive to Clark-Shaw, located in the Alpine Hills neighborhood, or be dropped off by their parents. Instead, they are being shuttled to and from Murphy, a distance of about 8 miles.

Several students who have been interviewed by the Press-Register and al.com said they’re not to keen on having to take the buses. It makes for a long day, as they leave Murphy at 7:30 a.m., and board the buses at 3:30 p.m. to head back.

During a recent visit to the school, students were grouping together and talking to their friends as they made their way between classes. Members of the school’s ROTC were practicing on the practice football field. The band crammed into a double-wide portable for practice.

“The teachers are doing an outstanding job,” Smith said. “We’re asking them to do things they’ve never done before, like bus duty. But we’ve all come together.”

The Murphy students have the portables as well as a two-story building known as the “back building.” They are separated from the 700 Clark-Shaw middle schoolers by a fence. Their arrival and dismissal times are an hour apart, so there’s no mingling, and Murphy’s students don’t start their lunch waves until Clark-Shaw is done.

“It’s been kind of different,” said sophomore Ferdinand Amanor. “I’m not used to things being so strict. But I don’t think it’s so bad anymore.”

Amanor said the buses are crowded and that it’s difficult to make it all the way from one of his classes upstairs in the back building to one of the portables on the eastern edge of campus.

“I miss Murphy, definitely,” Amanor said, “the freedom that we had.”

Added Shane Ellison, a senior, “It was tragic to see our school completely devastated like that, but I’m thankful for Clark-Shaw’s hospitality. I’m glad we were given a second chance.”

Ellison said he’s missing out on some of the fun he would have had at Murphy, during his senior year. But officials have said they’ll find a way to fit those activities in.

“It’s my senior year, and my school turns up destroyed,” he said. “But it’s going to get rebuilt and it’s going to be stronger for future students.”

Meanwhile, it looks as if the insurance company is going to cover about $11 million worth of damage. School officials met with local legislators Tuesday to talk about seeking tens of millions of dollars more in state funding to renovate or restore the historic campus, which was built in the 1920s.

Rep. Randy Davis, R-Daphne, a former band director at Murphy, congratulated school system officials for getting Murphy set up at Clark-Shaw. Davis said he has invited Gov. Robert Bentley, who visited Murphy in December, to come see for himself how the two schools are operating together, but separately.